How does protest become criminalised? Applying an anthropological perspective to political and legal conflicts, Carolijn Terwindt urges us to critically question the underlying interests and logic of prosecuting protesters.The book draws upon ethnographic research in Chile, Spain, and the United States to trace prosecutorial narratives in three protracted contentious episodes in liberal democracies. Terwindt examines the conflict between Chilean landowners and the indigenous Mapuche people, the Spanish state and the Basque independence movement, and the United States' criminalisation of 'eco-terrorists.' Exploring how patterns and mechanisms of prosecutorial narrative emerge through distinct political, social and democratic contexts, Terwindt shines a light on how prosecutorial narratives in each episode changed significantly over time.Challenging the law and justice system and warning against relying on criminal law to deal with socio-political conflicts, Terwindt's observations have implications for a wide range of actors and constituencies, including social movement activists, scholars, and prosecutors.
Carolijn Terwindt is Senior Legal Advisor on Business and Human Rights at the European Center for Constitutional and Human Rights in Berlin. She has contributed articles to numerous journals and is the co-author with Chris van der Borgh of NGOs under Pressure in Partial Democracies (Palgrave Macmillan, 2014).
Series Preface Preface Acknowledgments Abbreviations 1. Introduction PART I: LAW, POLITICS AND LEGITIMACY IN LIBERAL DEMOCRACIES2. When Groups Take Justice into Their Own Hands 3. The Prosecutorial Narrative and the Double Bind of Liberal Legalism 4. Mobilizing the Power of Victimhood 5. Challenging the State’s Crime Definition PART II: WHEN PROSECUTORS RESPOND: NARRATIVES IN ACTIONETA cases in Spain6. Casting the Net Wider by Calling the Armed Group a Network 1127. Narrating Praise for ETA Prisoners as Humiliation of Victims “Mapuche conflict” cases in Chile8. Vacillating between Criminalization and Negotiation 9. Responding to Allegations of Racism and Repression against the Mapuche People “Eco-terrorism” cases in the United States10. Shifting from Reactive to Proactive Prosecutions 11. Drawing a Boundary between Raising Awareness and Intimidation 12. Conclusion: The Prosecutor’s Contested Claim to Criminal Justice References Interviews Trial Transcripts Index
'Protesters often end up in criminal courts. Even so, and despite sporadic efforts, social science has long neglected the criminalization of protest. In this welcome comparative study, Carolijn Terwindt skilfully examines the complex interplay between law and protest, making an important contribution to an overlooked topic'